Hedy Lamarr


Real name: Hedwig Eva Marie Kiesler

Birthdate: November 9, 1913

Birthplace: Vienna, Austria

Nickname: "The most beautiful woman in films/the world"

Died: January 19, 2000

Cause of Death: Natural Causes

Buried: Unknown

Quick bio facts:
-Turned down lead roles in Gaslight and Casablanca.

-Became well known in the film Ecstasy, a risque Czech silent film, with nudity and sex scenes. Pope Pius XI condemned it. Mussolini let it show at the Vienna Film Festival, where it was a big hit. When it finally came to the U.S where it was banned in most places, but that only increased people's interest in seeing it.

-One of her husbands tried buying all of the prints of Ecstasy, because he didn't want anymore people seeing it. Of course he failed, as it's almost impossible to retrieve all prints and traces of a movie.

-Hedy Lamarr got her stage name from Louis B. Mayer who named her after Barbara La Marr the short lived actress, whom he admired.

-Invented timed wavelength radio signals to direct missiles to their targets with one of her husbands, they got a U.S patent on the technology. It was only after the patent expired that the miltary actually started using it.

Books about or featuring Hedy Lamarr:

-Films of Hedy Lamarr by Christopher Young

-Hedy Lamarr (Discover the Life of an Inventor) by Ann Gaines

Quotes:

"My problem is, I'm a hell of a dame, the most horrible whores are famous. I did what I did for love. The others did it for money."

Click here for list of films


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